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Contemporary posts

A view from the art handlers: installing Susan Aldworth: The Portrait Anatomised

After months of desk work (or years in the case of larger exhibitions), the reward for curators comes at the moment when the artworks are finally installed in the space. With most Gallery displays and exhibitions, alterations to the way works are hung (minor or radical) can still happen at this moment; but, with others, the process of hanging can be quite technical. The skill of the art handlers is paramount to ensuring these installations run as planned.…

By Inga Fraser, Assistant Curator (Contemporary & 20th Century Collections)

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17 April 2013

Amy Jade Winehouse ('Amy-Blue'), by Marlene Dumas, oil on canvas, 2011, NPG 6948

A new acquisition: Amy-Blue by Marlene Dumas

The Gallery recently unveiled a new addition to the Contemporary Collection: a portrait of the singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, who passed away last year, painted by the Amsterdam-based, South African artist Marlene Dumas . Traditionally, the Gallery collects portraits made from life, so what does it mean for the Gallery to acquire a posthumous work?…

By Inga Fraser, Assistant Curator (Contemporary & 20th Century Collections)

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12 December 2012

Contemporary

On being painted by Humphrey Ocean

Humphrey Ocean, whose display A handbook of modern life opens at the Gallery this month, began making a series of portraits of visitors to his south London studio – friends, family and people he knows – in 2006; a diverse group who now number almost two hundred. The portraits share a format, and by using gouache, a kind of thickened watercolour, on paper, Ocean can work very swiftly. None of the portraits took more than forty-five minutes. …

By Rosie Broadley, Associate Curator

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22 November 2012

The Judges' View: Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012

The great strength of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize is that it brings together a wide of images, from reportage and documentary photographs to studio portraits. This year some 5,000 photographs were submitted for the competition. As chair of the selection panel, I encourage my fellow judges (this year Emma Hardy, Lauren Heinz, Glyn Morgan, Sean O’Hagan and Terence Pepper) to hold individual opinions and to argue for the works they find particularly appealing. Consensus on the final selection is always reached, but the exhibition is more diverse as a result of this debate.…

By Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery